
A spirited group of friends—two city girls eager for adventure, a confident cowboy, and a quiet boy with a keen eye—find themselves racing across the sun‑scorched sands of Arizona. Their playful ride leads them to a narrow, stone‑lined gateway where the desert’s quiet is broken by a half‑buried skeleton and the promise of something hidden. As they dismount, the landscape opens to a bleak valley framed by low, jagged mountains and twisted dwarf trees, setting a vivid backdrop for their curiosity.
Soon the young explorers spot the faint outline of a stone wall perched on a ledge, hinting at a long‑forgotten settlement perched on the edge of the cliffs. The cowboy’s cryptic grin suggests a mystery waiting to be uncovered, and the girls’ excitement bubbles over as they imagine the secrets such a phantom town might hold. With each step deeper into the silent desert, the group must rely on wit, teamwork, and a dash of daring to piece together clues before the shadows of the past swallow them whole.
Language
en
Duration
~4 hours (277K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Rod Crawford, Dave Morgan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2013-09-12
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
b. 1876
Best known today through the pen name Carol Norton, this early 20th-century writer created lively mysteries and adventure stories for young readers. Her books ranged from girls’ series fiction to western-flavored tales and boys’ adventures.
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